Sex and Monsters (Warning!)

[Kooshmeister]

Zombies, like vampires, may actually be a symbol of sterility and lifelessness. Zombie hordes sometimes do include zombified children, yet there's never such a thing in these stories as a zombie getting pregnant by another zombie and bearing a child; the only way child zombies come to exist is by children getting whatever disease the other zombies have gotten that makes them what they are.

Well, there was a zombie baby born in the remake of Dawn of the Dead as a result of a pregnant woman getting bitten, but still, she didn't turn into a zombie, then boink another zombie to conceive the child.

[Andrew]

Zombies, like vampires, may actually be a symbol of sterility and lifelessness. Zombie hordes sometimes do include zombified children, yet there's never such a thing in these stories as a zombie getting pregnant by another zombie and bearing a child; the only way child zombies come to exist is by children getting whatever disease the other zombies have gotten that makes them what they are.

Well, there was a zombie baby born in the remake of Dawn of the Dead as a result of a pregnant woman getting bitten, but still, she didn't turn into a zombie, then boink another zombie to conceive the child.

Actually, this very thing takes place in "Dead Alive."  The zombie priest and zombie nurse make a zombie baby.

[zombielordjoe]

i completly disagree with the whole movie monster stuff. i read all the posts and while i can talk about scary movies all day (you did stimulate conversation in which i would gladly partake) i think the diagnosis is looking deeper into something thats not there. likely the creators of such supernatural beings modeled their charecters from personalities of people they already knew. of course, bram stoker didn't meet a vampire, but he must have heard of the legend and he probably took drac's personality traits from people that he met before. the monster is not a metaphor for an underlying illness or disorder, rather the crated charecter was modled from a human... and you could spend all day discecting a psyche and find repressed sexual fantasies, anger problems, identity crisises, ect. a monster is just a monster, but a human is complex.

[Inyarear]

Zombies, like vampires, may actually be a symbol of sterility and lifelessness. Zombie hordes sometimes do include zombified children, yet there's never such a thing in these stories as a zombie getting pregnant by another zombie and bearing a child; the only way child zombies come to exist is by children getting whatever disease the other zombies have gotten that makes them what they are.

Well, there was a zombie baby born in the remake of Dawn of the Dead as a result of a pregnant woman getting bitten, but still, she didn't turn into a zombie, then boink another zombie to conceive the child.

Actually, this very thing takes place in "Dead Alive."  The zombie priest and zombie nurse make a zombie baby.

That would be the first time I'd ever heard of a thing like that, but I guess someone was bound to think of it sooner or later. A roommate I had in college liked to do online role play, and was always complaining about all the geeky players in his vampire role playing games who claimed to be pregnant (which is officially impossible for the very same reasons that, as I explained earlier, sexual performance and pleasure would be impossible).

Whether a pregnancy is even possible with zombies is in question for the same reason, but on the other hand, if they're living and just happen to have some weird kind of disease, pregnancy might actually still be possible, whereas dead people who've been re-animated by supernatural forces shouldn't be capable of having babies by any natural means.

Again, I don't think every monster implies something sexual. Most zombie hordes are actually probably stand-ins for crazed consumers or other bands of people some see as mindless hordes to be mocked for entertainment's sake (such as concert-going heavy metal fans).

Speaking of mindless consumerism, when are we going to get to see another episode review of Bucky O'Hare, Kooshmeister? I like the pieces you've done so far.

[RCMerchant]

i completly disagree with the whole movie monster stuff. i read all the posts and while i can talk about scary movies all day (you did stimulate conversation in which i would gladly partake) i think the diagnosis is looking deeper into something thats not there. likely the creators of such supernatural beings modeled their charecters from personalities of people they already knew. of course, bram stoker didn't meet a vampire, but he must have heard of the legend and he probably took drac's personality traits from people that he met before. the monster is not a metaphor for an underlying illness or disorder, rather the crated charecter was modled from a human... and you could spend all day discecting a psyche and find repressed sexual fantasies, anger problems, identity crisises, ect. a monster is just a monster, but a human is complex.

Try telling that to Jess Franco.

[Allhallowsday]

Being the completist that I am. I'm embarrassed to admit that I have not seen either Frankenstein, but will diligently put them on my list of films to view. Karma for you Allhallowsday. Not so much for having watched the films, but for having watched them in New Jersey.    Thanks.

  Only us lucky few from NJ, at the crossroads of America, yet still wilderness, know what cosmopolitan utopia truly is!  I return the favor.  Thanks! 
Posted this at Bad Movies Picture War thread, but seems even more appropriate here! 

[Newt]

Great topic.  I have not given much thought to this beyond the superficial vampire/werewolf/alien aspects.

Robots in this context brings to mind the Stepford Wives.

And zombies...well, they have always struck me as being frigid.  Any which way you turn it.

[Fausto]

i completly disagree with the whole movie monster stuff. i read all the posts and while i can talk about scary movies all day (you did stimulate conversation in which i would gladly partake) i think the diagnosis is looking deeper into something thats not there. likely the creators of such supernatural beings modeled their charecters from personalities of people they already knew. of course, bram stoker didn't meet a vampire, but he must have heard of the legend and he probably took drac's personality traits from people that he met before. the monster is not a metaphor for an underlying illness or disorder, rather the crated charecter was modled from a human... and you could spend all day discecting a psyche and find repressed sexual fantasies, anger problems, identity crisises, ect. a monster is just a monster, but a human is complex.

Joe, I have to disagree with your disagreement. While Bram Stoker did base his character on a real person (in this case, the actor he worked for, Henry Irving; He also based Drac largely on the story The Vampyre, which author John Polidori based on his own employer, Lord Byron) you have to understand that anything an artist creates is shaped and moulded by whatever life experiences he's had up to that point, hence that work of art can say more about the issues and personal influences surrounding the artist than even he himself intends. Stoker may have based more intimate personality traits on Irving, though overall Drac is a representation of Stoker's opinions on the vain, selfish and "blood drinking" aristocracy as a whole. Thus, the undead count and his story can be seen as a commentary on many issues, including sex, class, and wealth, far from being "just a monster." Dracula is only one example; because of its shocking nature and supernatural overtones (which make it easier to create and use metaphors) the horror genre has long been used to takle such issues. As one director put it, "if you ever want to view the political and social issues at any point in history, watch the horror movies from that period".

[Snivelly]

Joe, I have to disagree with your disagreement. While Bram Stoker did base his character on a real person (in this case, the actor he worked for, Henry Irving; He also based Drac largely on the story The Vampyre, which author John Polidori based on his own employer, Lord Byron) you have to understand that anything an artist creates is shaped and moulded by whatever life experiences he's had up to that point, hence that work of art can say more about the issues and personal influences surrounding the artist than even he himself intends. Stoker may have based more intimate personality traits on Irving, though overall Drac is a representation of Stoker's opinions on the vain, selfish and "blood drinking" aristocracy as a whole. Thus, the undead count and his story can be seen as a commentary on many issues, including sex, class, and wealth, far from being "just a monster." Dracula is only one example; because of its shocking nature and supernatural overtones (which make it easier to create and use metaphors) the horror genre has long been used to takle such issues. As one director put it, "if you ever want to view the political and social issues at any point in history, watch the horror movies from that period".

Nicely said, karma point for you.   

[daveblackeye15]

I'm not much of an contributor so my statement will be brief.

Anyone care to dice up Kong and Ann?

[DistantJ]

I have to say I think these freudian sex analagies are bulls**t. People say it about everything.

I mean everywhere you look people say "oh its all just a metaphor for sex". What a load of crap. I mean people invent badass monsters to be badass monsters, not to represent some kind of sexual psychology.

You can find sex related analagies in everything if you look hard enough but you could find cheese and tomato related analagies in everything if you look hard enough too. Some people just got sex on t' brain.

There are exceptions, sure, Ginger Snaps, for example, comparing puberty to lycanthropy, but otherwise, nah, I don't buy this stuff.

[dean]

I'm not much of an contributor so my statement will be brief.

Anyone care to dice up Kong and Ann?

How could it be anything but Jungle Fever?  Fear of the exotic wild-other compared to the straight-laced, boring-by-comparison white companions.  Think of all those old 'documentary' films in which there are stories about white women living wild with the natives of Africa.  Some of those are quite interesting and historically the original King Kong does give a nod to them. 

Or, at a bit of a stretch, a white males' insecurity about 'size' compared with those of other races.

I did a bit of study on that too, which is always fun.  All this freudian and Jungian theory, whilst kind of annoying and stupid alot of the time, is also interesting when reading certain films.


Yes you can draw sexuality and meanings from anything, and for quite a lot of monster films that may not necessarily be the case at all [sexy zombies? Nah...] but I think the purpose of this thread was to discuss those in which you can make that link, or at least have fun coming up with the link itself! 

[Enigmanaut]

I viewed the Universal Dracula in the late nineties for the first time since I was a boy, so the film was fresh, new again. At that time, I had been reading a fair amount of true crime books, particularly Mindhunter by former FBI profiler John Douglas, so serial killers were very much on my mind.

In the film, the Count encounters a flower girl.  Dracula places the girl under his influence, then carefully pushes her behind a wall, beyond the audience's view.  I said to myself, he is really Ted Bundy.  I knew what Bundy had done to some of his victims and I knew, too, that the poor flower girl would not have mere have two pin prick wounds on her neck; she would suffer.

That gave me a real chill.

When I first came across this thread, I was reminded of an article I had read for a Popular Culture class.  The thrust of the article was teenagers identify with monster movies because of the changes, physical and sexual, that they are going through.  While the author had something there, I don't believe that the sexual engine is absolute.

I see Godzilla as a nuclear bomb with teeth, a tail, and terrible breath.

When I see a horde of zombies, I see the shambling, gibbering, implacable manifestations of inescapable fate.  Try as you might, fight as hard as you can, they will keep coming, in their clumsy way, and they will get you...and you, too, will rot.

I see Frankenstein's monster as an abandoned child, a bastard child; even worse, a child unaccepted even by his peers...and harassed to point of unreasoning rage.   I think we might see that feature at any high school near you.

I know that the filmmakers bring specific ideas to their work, but sometimes the audience may see something that that was not necessarily intended by the filmmakers.  The engines of motivation are as varied as the films and the monsters.

[DistantJ]

The REAL sex and monsters:

[Zapranoth]

I love that warning, "Absolutely Not For Children."    Or for most adults!   

I was wondering when someone was going to bring up hentai.